The Creation of Becoming​Guest Post by David A. Bradbury

The genesis for Becoming began whilst I was lying on a hospital bed awaiting imaging results on a neurological condition. At that time, I was having great difficulty walking and my sensory perception and cognitive functioning were distorted. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and subsequently with epilepsy. During those dark times, my worldview was irrevocably changed. I’d always been an avid reader and wrote short stories and poetry for personal consumption. However, being essentially bed-ridden during the early phase of the conditions left me plentiful time to cogitate. Never being one to stray into negativity, I put my dark thoughts into a template, and turned such ideation into a story.

Initially called Darklight, a term that typified my fluctuating worldview at the time, the main character in Becoming (William Kerry) is a hybrid of my personal experiences. The first three chapters were written whilst my body and mind were still coming to grips with the changes taking place within. Not only did the MS and epilepsy bring me face-to-face with mortality, but they also expanded my horizons, led my thinking into places before unknown.

Never having written a novel before, the initial drafts (of Darklight) read more like storyboards, each chapter a mini-story in its own right. This process of linking sub-stories continued when I revisited Darklight (now, Becoming) at the end of 2013. My perceptual style has always been visually and auditory oriented. I write things as I see them in my mind’s eye; and dialogue as I hear it in my inner ear. This makes for fluid production if the content is somewhat erratic at times. To this end, the editor I chose to check through the manuscript commented on how my writing style would lend itself both to a fiction novel and/or a visual storyboard. This disconcerted me at first because I wouldn’t want the reader to become confused: Is this guy writing a novel or does he have aspirations to be the next Tarantino? The truth is that Becoming is first and foremost a fiction novel. It is purely coincidental, and certainly not intentional, that it may also lend itself to visual (e.g., cinematic) interpretation.This leads me onto my second point regarding the editing process. My writing style incorporates a greater number of adverbs than usual—I think one per every 300 words is recommended—and a greater number of pronouns. Whilst this style of writing is eschewed by some purists, I was heartened to read an article by Martina Cole in Writers Magazine (2015), where she espoused “Why write like someone else? Write like yourself.” So I trimmed the number of adverbs and pronouns, whilst leaving the manuscript retaining my style. It was re-edited, and all camps were happy. To this end, I think it important to, within reason, stick to your guns as far as editing is concerned. If you’re not careful, the manuscript can lose its core identity, that which made you excited enough to spend countless hundreds of hours buried away from loved ones. Having said that, always take editors/proofreaders comments on board. For the majority of the time, their comments are pertinent and will help you develop and hone your manuscript into a leaner machine. However, by the same token, remain true to yourself. Unless you’re physically sat down with an editor/proofreader and can explain your reasoning for how certain passages of text read as they do, they will always be trying to second guess.

Taking the above two points into consideration, despite having to rewrite/trim various sections of Becoming, on numerous occasions, I’m satisfied with the final product. Not 100%, because I feel that through the editing process a small part of what made Becoming (nee, Darklight) mine, has been lost. That is, as this is my first novel and essentially contains a lot of me, I feel a tad aggrieved at having to censor my output. But, I’ve come to realise that you can’t be too possessive, emendments are suggested for positive reasons; and, to be truthful, after editing/proofreading, the manuscript is much easier to follow, and is a far tighter, more slick piece of work.

For William Kerry, and those close to him, dreams are becoming reality and reality insidiously fuses with their dreams. Are they going mad, maybe psychotic? Caught in the middle of William’s desperate struggle to regain control of his life is his loving girlfriend, Isabelle, a gentle young lady all too aware of the tricks the mind can play and the evils born of man. But a new evil awaits and William and Isabelle are drawn into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse in which they must not only fight to save their relationship, but their very lives. Something is drawing William and Isabelle into the abyss. Something wicked—something alien and unknowable—something ancient and savage. The stakes could not be higher: invasion is imminent.

About the Author

David A. Bradbury was born in Manchester, England. He has a PhD in Psychology. His thesis assessed the borderland of normal and abnormal personality traits. Having a lifelong interest in the darker side of the human psyche, David has always been an avid reader of literature—both fiction and non-fiction—relating to the supernatural, paranormal, and the occult. His favourite authors include Stephen King, Clive Barker and Ray Bradbury (no relation).

David currently lives in Worcestershire, within sight of the Malvern Hills, with his wife, Marie, and his annoying yet loveable pooch–Obsi.